After reading the entire thread I am speechless on two fronts. One, the clarity of information provided by a select group of considerate users, and two, the sheer cheek of the rest of you. I shall refer to the two groups as seeders and leechers respectively.

It amazes me at the amount of people who just straight up lie about reading the thread. You either have incredibly poor information retention skills or you're lying plain and simple. I'm going with the latter. It took me well over a week of reading this thread for about an hour a day and I found all the answers to the ridiculous questions littered in this thread.

To the leechers, ask yourself why you can't find a job? I'm going to give you the best piece of advice you'll ever receive in your life. Do your homework. Research everything! (and if you actually bother to take the time to read the thread, you'll find that this was already presented to you by other users!)

To the seeders, the information you provided was nothing short of fantastic. Hats off to you guys!

Whoa, hoss! Some people aren't that fit and their lips get tired after an hour or two of reading...:E

@Turbopropulsion

I agree with you but sometimes if you just read the thread and take the information there without asking some questions you might be dwelling on old information. As we can see on the thread, things change over time and what used to be 2 years ago might not be today.

That is true, the minimum requirements have indeed changed since liftboy created this thread. However, I was referring to the 50+ people that posted with questions starting as follows-

" hello there, I am a 220 tt cpl license holder.......

Evidently these people didn't read any of the thread. I hate unnecessary flaming online but my rant was well justified. :mad:

Luckily, a lot of the people who are too lazy to read it all are also too lazy to fly out here to check things out.

On the flip side, unfortunately many of the people who decide to visit don't appear to have done any research at all. Unbelievable in this day and age. Everything is just a quick google search away. Less than half of the guys that show up have type ratings. I wish I had a dollar for all the times I've heard complaints about how 'Maun used to be the paradise of fresh CPLs, 500 hours is ridiculous. No one told me that things had changed here. How am I ever meant to get that many hours?!'. Then there's the guys who expect to get a job in the two days they're here.

As for my favourite job seeker quotes from the last six months (may not be word for word accurate but it's how I like to remember them)...

"Where are all the twins parked? It's just single engines parked on this apron"

"You land on dirt? And you say the strip is how long?" "I landed on a 1500m runway once. That was pretty short"

"How many airstrips are in the delta? 5? 10? Doesn't it get complicated with all the control zones overlapping?"

"I can't stand VFR flying. IFR is where it's at"

"Who needs a map? And why are you learning the runway headings? Just fly the approaches on the GPS to every strip and you'll be fine"

"I've never seen any of the pilots use a check list. How do they know how to start the engine or do run ups?"

Overheard in a conversation with a chief pilot: "I'm only willing to stay for a year. I might stretch to eighteen months at the most. And how long until I fly the caravan, I'm not interested in piston time". (The guy had 220 hours).

"I've been here a week already and I can't believe nothing has happened!" (200 hr, no ratings)

Brilliant! That made for some quality reading. Out of curosity, what were the age ranges of the poor sods who made those comments?

People need to realise they are nothing but a weighted number which is inevitably going to be made less significant by the person who arrived at the same time as you who is significantly more qualified/experienced. I think it goes without saying that if you're not prepared to spend at the very least 3 full months searching for a job then don't bother making the trip down there. It's never going to be easy!

I think that ludicrous TV-show on Discovery inflated waaaaaay to many egos, including your and your chief-pilot's, babe!

Is that annoying woman with her even more annoying voice, bragging and preaching about how this nationality is more efficient at work than the another, still in the company?

Inbound - please make sure the beer is cold guys :cool:

8 hrs on a ship and three flights :eek:

@PilotInPink

HAHAHAHAHA!!! That was some fun reading! :D

Botswana memories
 

Good to read your memories, AMM. My Botswana flying was also definitely the best of my flying career. Great place, great people, great work

Will never forget it~

They say its not really bush flying and that its not really that "hardcore". Moving from there to the mountains of Papua wasn't really too much of a step up. It taught me the basics and taught me them well.

This thread is getting rather long and also a tad long in the tooth.

Is it maybe time for an updated version so that the newbies dont have to trawl through so many pages of outdated information ?

Best flying
 

Hi Chap/Chapess's
I also flew in Maun from 1989 until 1993 and agree with AMM, it was the best flying on my career.
From Aer Kavango/Northern Air.
i think people need to moderate their actions and keenness to achieve, remember we are all out to achieve the same result..A living in Aviation!
Having flown the 76/75/74/77, I would dearly like eventually to return for my retirement but only if its a liveable Salary..Please don't sell your soles too quickly, no matter how keen you are?
Happy flying guys and stay safe!

Costs money. Won't happen.

There are mind boggling numbers of flight school products who may as well be in a wheelchair for all the use to which they put their feet on the flight deck.

Hi all,

First up thank you to everyone who has contributed information to these threads! Pretty much every question I've had has been answered by reading through these pages!

I do have one question regarding the type endorsements though... I'm from Australia and have a few hundred hours in 200 series piston aircraft, however with the licensing system down here I am endorsed to fly any Single Engine Piston Aircraft <5700kg, therefore don't have a specific "206" or "210" endorsements. I've not yet been able to find an ATO willing to issue such an endorsement either.

So my question is: will the hours I've already done be considered even without the specific type endorsement in my logbook?

Cheers.

Hi Big Jon

I would recommend going past an aeroclub or the like and ask for a competency check on the 210 or summat, this way, it will be signed in logbook as competent.

have you had a dig around in the law? NZ recognizes foreign ratings as long as specific hours are met and the book is signed by appropriately rated instructor.

Ebola
 

FYI Our company has just received this notice.

Any other tour operators here please check your client's itineraries.

Thanks bonzaii, I'll have a look into the competency check option!

I've not been able to find any information regarding hours translating to endorsements or such; but that said I don't currently have anything signed in my logbook specific to flying any 200 aircraft!

Thanks again

Good news- a few months ago CAAB started to recognise class/ category ratings.

Pilots holding an EASA/ FAA/ CASA licence no longer need to figure out how to get a type rating that technically doesn't exist in their home country. South Africans and Kiwis still have to have the ratings prior to arrival.

However, this is Africa and you never know when the authority will change its mind. In my opinion, I'd still say it was worth it to get a couple of hours on type and your logbook signed by an instructor along the lines of "Joe Pilot has demonstrated competency in flying a Cessna 206 aircraft".

Is there any truth or has anyone had any experience related to the previous post about CAAB starting to recognise class ratings etc.?